Natural Cures They Don't Want You To Know About

[AngryAmish]

Has anyone seen this infomercial?

It is an interesting marketing plan. They sell "secret knowledge" that "they" (usually pharmaceutical companies or the government) do not want you to know. Very gnostic.

There is also an infomercial for this stuff called "Sea Veg" which I think is kelp.

What I have noticed is no sense of optimism or joy of helping people. There is an angry tone where the salespeople portray a sense of aggreivement to unknown powers that be that are keeping them down.

I guess they know what they are doing because it seems to be working. Just another funny permutation of the good old American capitalist system.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

1. Caught a blurb the other day about this book. Wasn't complimentary

at all. Said the author was a known con man from way back. Has had many get rick quick schemes and not to believe a word he says. That is the sum total of my information on the book. I came in at the tail end of the discussion.

Anyone have any more information?

[AngryAmish]

3. Kevin Trudeau

"For Release: January 13, 1998

Infomercial Marketers Settle Various Charges:

Ad Claims For "Hair Farming," "Mega Memory System," "Addiction Breaking System,"
"Action Reading," "Eden's Secret," and "Mega Reading" Were Deceptive"

This guy is an old-time grifter. However, it is the angry tone which sets this stuff apart.

[Gothic Sponge]

8. I don't know anything about Kevin Trudeau, but quackwatch.org

is a pile of crap. It's funded by drug companies. They list any doctor as a quack that doesn't conform to an all drug protocol. So, if any doctors do use complementary medicine they are labeled.

[redqueen]

10. Hey stranger...

Nice seeing you around!

:hi:

[skygazer]

2. My daughter got addicted to infomercials in high school

She suffered from insomnia and so would get up in the night and turn on the TV. It was weird - a sixteen year old running into my room in a state of high excitement telling me, "Mom, we simply HAVE to get a Wonder Mop!"

[Jack from Charlotte]

16. Best thing about infomercials? They're commercial free.*

[lildreamer316]

28. Yeah go friggin figure n/t

:silly:

[supernova]

4. The Peoples' Pharmacy

If you're really into natural remedies, these people are the real deal:

http://www.healthcentral.com/peoplespharmacy/408/pp_about.html

They also talk about drug interactions and the latest pharm and drug trial news.

[AngryAmish]

7. I am pretty skeptical about 'natural' remedies

You can legally make unproven claims you can't make about drugs. The dosages vary greatly for example.

If this stuff is properly tested than I would be much more receptive.

[supernova]

9. That's just it

they are very supportive of clinical trials of things like valarin and st johns wart.

As for 'natural', they are more into the old folklore variety. They are not pushing specific products for a percentage of the take. You're more likely to hear what in the cupbard will get rid of your wart (duct tape), or what's a good sub for cough syrup (whiskey, honey, and lemon juice).

[wideopen]

12. Really..?

You are sceptical about plant based medicines that have been in use for hundreds of years but not about some chemical concoction a scientist invented in a lab? The FDA is not on your side friend, they are an extention of the pharma industry, don't ever rely on them to determine if something is "safe" or not. As far as unproven claims, look no farther than vioxx, cholesterol drugs, anti-depressants.

[AngryAmish]

14. see what I mean about the angry tone?

[wideopen]

15. Not intended,

It's just frustrating to see people "drinking the kool-aid" when it comes to this issue. I've researched this subject extensively over the last 4 years (far more than I care to admit) and I assure you pharmaceutical companies do not make products to keep you healthy, they make them for profit. The pharma industry has conditioned you to believe natural remedies aren't safe, with the help of the MSM. I hate to see anyone fall prey to bullshit when it come to health decisions.

[barb162]

22. You know, I basically agree with you and I think pharma should be

taken to task for the crap they haven't properly tested where people are getting sick and dying from it, like this Vioxx stuff and all the other crap that we don't even know about. I have personally made adverse drug reaction reports to the FDA because I know the doctors often don't do it. I know people who have gotten really sick from vaccines and other drugs. Then again I know some drugs are really good and are keeping people alive (like insulin, heart medications, etc). I don't believe most of the alternate medicine thing because none of that gets tested at all. And when they do seem to test it, it doesn't work. I don't trust the drug companies and I don't trust the alternative medicine field either. Oh well, my two cents. I have been researching this for about 2 years when a pet of mine died after a routine vaccine. Since then two more of my pets got sick after routine rabies shots. I trust the vets even less than MDs so I report this stuff to the government myself now. I will tell you I really dislike going to a vet for some 20 buck government required shot that they paid five cents for and then I get stuck with FIVE FIGURE vet bills for ERs, specialists, etc. and I still end up with a very beloved pet that dies. And mine is not an unusual story

[sendero]

26. If you take a close look...

.... at the pharmaceutical industry and the whole medical "establishment", you'll get angry too.

Simple truth - I don't know jack about this book. I DO KNOW there are many herbal-alternative treatments that work as well or better than the pharma treatment and with a lot less expense and side effects.

Also, when one says "they can make claims without substiation", you should be aware that the people who test your pharmaceuticals are paid for by the drug maker and if you think there isn't rampant hanky panky going on with these studies then ask yourself why we're suddenly seeing this huge rash of drug recalls.

[BeFree]

27. That's hilarious

AngryAmish doesn't like the angry tone. ROFL

Anyway, Love, doesn't it just seem that big Pharma is more interested in making big money? Golly gosh, it sure seems that way to me. If you don't mind me saying so, it seems they are most interested in the sexiest drugs: when did you last see a commercial for insulin? Gosh, I can't ever remember.

There is one plant that is illegal, a plant that would just about wipe out a whole class of money making pharma products because of it's beneficial uses, and gosh, I wouldn't want to be caught with it, know what I mean?

There are other very beneficial plants that due to their abundance and being free, just will never make it into mainstream uses because they have no profit margin. Shucks.

It's ok, I guess, to be taken in by the whole money making apparatus of big Pharma; it just doesn't make much sense, does it? Or maybe it does for some people? Who knows?

[Sanity Claws]

29. Germany has studied many herbs

Germany has something called Commission E which has tested herbal medications and found many to be effective, including St. John's Wort, Chaste Tree Berry.
Herbs are not quakery but instead the foundation for much of our pharmaceuticals.

[Jack from Charlotte]

17. I agree. Both Duke professors, I believe.*

[Orsino]

5. I keep hearing it on AAR.

Just more AAR commercial quackery, I believe.

[pitohui]

6. no but i saw that this dude is in jail for quackery

run run run for yr life

[evlbstrd]

11. Snake oil never goes out of style.

[scarlet_owl]

13. Somebody bought this book for my mother.

She says that he tells people to convert to Scientology in it. It's a load of crap.

[Initech]

18. This guy was exposed as a complete fraud on the Daily Show

It was a classic segment. I mean, really, would you trust a TV infomercial guy on "natural cures"?

[alarimer]

20. There was an article in Salon on this guy a few weeks ago

He is a fraud.

Found a link

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2005/07/29/trudeau/index.html

..Even before hitting the bestseller list, Trudeau, who is in his early 40s, had built a billion-dollar empire as a prolific infomercialteer, selling various health and self-improvement products under the cover of night. This despite a two-year stint in federal prison in the early '90s after pleading guilty to credit card fraud, and a 1996 tangle with the Illinois attorney general, who accused him of running a pyramid scheme while working for a health-products company called Nutrition for Life. Trudeau and a co-defendant settled that case, paying $185,000 to Illinois and seven other states; during that time, the U.S. Postal Service and Securities and Exchange Commission also investigated his business dealings.

A close look at Trudeau's later run-in with the FTC, in 1998, during which he and seven cohorts were accused of making "false or unsubstantiated" claims in advertisements on radio and television infomercials, sheds much needed light on his character and says a lot about how seriously (or not) we should take "Natural Cures." Ads for the "Sable Hair Farming System," Trudeau's own "Mega Memory System," "Doctor Callahan's Addiction Breaking System," "Action Reading," "Eden's Secret Nature's Purifying Product" and "Howard Berg's Mega Reading" all came under scrutiny they could not withstand.

[AngryAmish]

23. What an interesting article

It is funny when corporate power gets merged with alternative medicine.

What I find the strangest is when he tells people not to use sunscreen. Does he have some sort of lobster fetish?

[alarimer]

25. Some people are willing to believe anything

As long as they say the "government doesn't want you to know about it".

He claims sunscreen, not the sun, causes cancer. Plenty of dermatologists would beg to differ with that.

[tjdee]

19. It's fascinating, though, because he's right. I watched the whole thing

this morning trying to avoid getting out of bed, LOL!

He is right when he says drug companies are in it for the money. He is right when he badmouths the FDA and FTC.

But just the fact that he's in an infomercial which *looks* like a shopping network channel (implying he's legit instead of paying for his own infomercial)--that's creepy.

And to up the ante he says he's risking going to jail for telling you that vitamin C kills scurvy. Hilarious on so many levels (How many people still have scurvy? Why would he be risking arrest if I knew that already? Why would the government care about scurvy cures?).

But if he tells people on tv about Yu Xiao San, I don't know, maybe they would arrest him. :shrug:

[greeneyedpookie]

21. Just go the book from MIL

She is an Naturopathic Doctor, and she has helped my daughter and I a lot. She agrees with some of the things in this book and then again not some. I will read it and if wanted, will give some feedback.

GEP

:bounce:

[ScreamingMeemie]

24. I read it already....and it's a printed infomercial. Most of the info in

book is common health knowledge, and you have to subscribe to a service to get the "real info". IMO, the book was a waste of two days of my time. :hi:

[Beware the Beast Man]

30. Sea Veg is PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!

:D

[Radio_Lady]

31. I heard this ad on the radio last night -- on KPOJ, the Air America

station here in Portland, OR.

They gave no information on what the product or product(s) were. Just a telephone number to order the book, I think.

I didn't pursue it further.